China creates 344 billion yuan chip fund to fuel self-resilience

CHINA has set up the country’s largest-ever semiconductor investment fund to propel the development of the domestic chip industry, the latest effort from Beijing to achieve self-sufficiency as the United States seeks to restrict its growth.

The third phase of the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has amassed 344 billion yuan (S$64 billion) from the central government and various state-owned banks and enterprises, including the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, according to Tianyancha, an online platform that aggregates official company registration information. The fund was incorporated on May 24.

The largest shareholder is China’s Ministry of Finance, while investment firms owned by local governments in Shenzhen and Beijing also contributed. The Shenzhen government has been funding several chipmaking plants in South China’s Guangdong province in an attempt to free Huawei Technologies from years of US sanctions that cut it off from a great number of imported semiconductor components.

Superpowers led by the US and European Union have funnelled nearly US$81 billion towards cranking out the next generation of semiconductors, escalating a global showdown with China for chip supremacy. China was also a leading spender in the past decade or so, using state capital to fund local chipmakers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).

The latest investment vehicle, known as Big Fund III, showcases the renewed push from Beijing to build its own semiconductor supply chain as the US urges allies – including the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan – to further tighten curbs on China’s access to chip technology and plug holes in existing export controls.

Shares of China’s major chip stocks jumped on Monday (May 27). SMIC, the largest chipmaker in China, rose as much as 5.4 per cent in Hong Kong. Hua Hong Semiconductor, a smaller competitor, climbed more than 6 per cent. BLOOMBERG